Langerhans cells in human lung tumours: an immunohistological study

In an immunocytochemical study of 41 human lung tumours we have shown that Langerhans cells can be reliably identified using the anti-CD1 monoclonal antibody NA1/34. Langerhans cells are present in all the main varieties of human lung tumour although they are infrequent in both small cell carcinoma and carcinoid tumour. There is considerable variation in numbers of Langerhans cells in both adenocarcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas. In this study tumours were divided into those with high numbers of Langerhans cells (greater than 2 per high power field) and those with low numbers (less than 2 per high power field). Analysing these results against patient survival showed a markedly worse survival in those tumours with a high number of Langerhans cells for all the tumours as a single group and for squamous cell carcinoma as a single entity.